Upon successful installation, I was immediately impressed with the game, feeling it to be no different than what Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary had done for Halo: Combat Evolved a year earlier. At the time, Black Mesa was a mod that simply needed the Source 2007 SDK to run, and so, after classes ended, I set about downloading both the Source SDK and the mod. Until then, I’d not even heard of the project, but I had an interest in the Half-Life universe, having borrowed Half-Life 2 from my friends on a few occasions during secondary school, after they’d wished for me to go through it (and correspondingly, have someone to talk about it with). If memory serves, it was only three days into my final undergraduate year when Black Mesa became available. At the time of its release, Black Mesa had proven to be a remarkable experience, completely modernising Half-Life and demonstrating what the Source Engine is capable of. The original mod had launched to acclaim, and the developers began work on the next segments of the game for Xen after Valve approached them and suggested they use a newer iteration of the Source Engine. Black Mesa had begun its life in 2004 as a project to greatly enhance Half-Life: Source after players felt the game did not fully utilise the Source Engine’s capabilities. This is where Black Mesa left off with its initial launch in September 2012, a full eight years after development had started. After crossing the surface and watching as the aliens overwhelm the remainder of the HECU, Freeman arrives at the Lambda Complex, brings its reactor back online and fends off Alien Controllers before jumping into the portal. ![]() Moreover, despite defeating Black Ops assassins, Freeman is subsequently captured by the HECU soldiers and left for dead in a trash compactor. Freeman successfully launches the satellite, but to no avail. Freeman is forced to contend with both the wildlife and soldiers after leaving the office complex, Freeman is confronted with a massive tentacled-monster and activates a rocket engine to incinerate it, and then defeats a Gargantua to access the underground train line connecting the Black Mesa launch facility: the remaining scientists hypothesise that they can use a satellite to close the rift. ![]() Moreover, to cover up the incident, the military’s HECU (Hazardous Environment Combat Unit) has been sent in to neutralise the Black Mesa staff, security guards and scientists alike. However, the resulting resonance cascade has allowed portals from another dimension to bring in alien wildlife that begins attacking the security staff and scientists. When an experiment goes horrifically wrong, theoretical physicist Gordan Freeman is forced to make his way through the heavily damaged Black Mesa research facility in an attempt to reach the surface and get help. I wouldn’t venture there myself, but I will let them know that you are coming.” –Scientist to Freeman “But, if you do survive and somehow make it across the base, you’ll end up at the Lambda Complex, where the rest of the science team has taken shelter.
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